It is no secret among African Americans, but whites as well are aware, that the Black man of America, statistically, needs to be added to the list of endangered species. As a matter of fact, the entire world knows it. When the report first broke a few years back it really didn’t surprise anyone I knew because it was self-evident.

There are federal, state and local protections that can be put into place to preserve whatever life form has been put at risk by the development, pollution, or genocide of our society, but not for this cause. White liberal conservationist could’ve marched in protest against the encroachment of negative factors in the Black Man’s natural environment, but they didn’t. It should’ve been made illegal to kill a Black Man, with stiff penalties for anyone who breaks the new tougher federal mandates, but the African American male death rate still climbed. There should’ve been a superfund, to support the procreation effort of the Black Man., with high corporate tax deductions available for corporations that contribute to the cause. It could’ve been gala fundraisers and silent auctions, with the proceeds all contributed to the effort to save the Black Man held regularly or semi-annually in major cities. White children should be studying the Black Man, and learn how important his survival is to our world. However, eventually at this pace we soon will see ads on e-bay announcing the sale of healthy adult African American males who will be rare and those sick times would create an insatiable demand for exotic creatures that are hard to find.

Would those kinds of actions be considered extremisms, or a little over the top? I don’t think so, judging by the FACTS concerning the not so gradual elimination of Black men. At least the powers that be could put African American males on the “threatened” list, if not the ‘endangered” one. Yes, the Black Man needs to be added to the list of endangered species…but it seems that the spotted owl is what this country rather save.

The essence of evil is the destruction of human beings. This includes not only killing but also creation of conditions that materially or psychologically destroy or diminish people's dignity, happiness, and capacity to fulfill basic material needs. (Staub, 1989:25)

What are Endangered Species?

Rare, endangered, or threatened plants and animals are elements of our natural heritage that are declining rapidly or are on the verge of vanishing. They are plants and animals that exist in small numbers that may be lost forever if we do not take quick action to stop their decline. If we cherish these species, like we do other rare and beautiful objects, these living organisms become treasures of the highest magnitude.

Nearly three decades ago, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act by an overwhelming 355-4 margin in the House and 92-0 in the Senate. Legislation was passed to protect the most endangered species in the United States. These special species cannot be destroyed nor can their habitat be eliminated. This country’s most revolutionary, strongest - and most maligned - ENVIRONMENTAL law was signed by President Nixon with little fanfare on December 28, 1973 when just a year prior it was reported that more than 400 Black Alabama sharecroppers and day laborers were subjects in a government study designed to determine and study the effects of untreated syphilis. For forty years these men were told they were being treated for "bad blood" when, in reality, they were simply being observed. This experiment continued despite the availability of a cure for syphilis. Eventually one reporter finally broke the story to the national press (the reporter who broke the story had tried to get the story out a few years before, but no one was interested). Where are America’s priorities?

At birth there are 1.03 Black boys born into the world to 1.00 Black girls; In the year 2000, 70 percent of all Black male were unavailable to Black women; One in tenth of all African American boys are addicted to drugs; Seventy percent of all African American male children are born out of wedlock; 85 percent of the African American children that are placed in special education are African American males; 609,000 African males are involved in the penal institutions; 47 percent of the penal population is African American men; One in three African American men are caught up in the criminal justice system; Black men make up only 3.5 percent of the college students. African Americans boys are 37 percent of the schools suspensions; Black men have the lowest life expectancy. African American men have the highest homicide and cancer rates; 31 percent of the African American males between 18-25 are unemployed. This is a very conservative figure; some people feel that it's closer to 40 to 45 percent.

As an African American parent of daughters I’m concerned that they will be fortunate enough to find suitable husband/mates with the declining numbers of available Black men to pool from, according to the latest Census Bureau statistics that show that in 1994, African Americans made up only 12.7 percent of the U.S. population. About 5.5 percent of that is male and of that, it appears that about 4 percent are single or otherwise available. For a woman who dates within the age range of 33-39, that takes the number of available men down to about 3 percent. It has been said that for a college-educated woman with a pretty good career, looking for someone with a similar life experience i.e. a college educated Black man, age 33-39, the percentage is probably no more than 2.5%. For an educated Black man with a successful career that figure would probably be1.5 percent. Securing an educated Black man with a successful career who is heterosexual –maybe 1 percent and most of this 1 percent can be found in cities and surrounding suburbs with large Black populations like Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York, Oakland and Detroit where Black life expectancy rates are lowest. So what are my daughters’ chances of finding a single, 33-39-year-old, heterosexual, college educated, and successful Black man? That is about .16 percent. Yes, that’s one sixth of one percent, i.e. point one six!

Additionally, if it’s true that 1 out of 3 Black men in the US are under some form of judicial restriction, the likelihood of my daughters marrying a “clean-cut” Black male looks fairly bleak. Black women have to pool from 2/3’s of our population for that choice and that is without deducting factors such as those who are homosexual, dying or at some health related risk, uneducated, homeless, unemployed, mentally challenged and the criminally insane. Regardless of the exact percentage that those numbers pan out to be, it is evidently clear that the availability of Black men, who by most standards are adequately prepared to successfully take on parental and family roles, is very slim based upon the roadblocks inherent in society.

I certainly want my daughters to go to college to better prepare themselves to be functional members of society and become independent Black women. It is my hope, also, that while on that journey of acquiring post secondary life skills, perhaps they would meet a descent Black man and get married. However, there’s an unlikelihood of that part of my parents’ dream happening since overall, the number of Black women going to college continues to exceed the number of Black men. Statistically:

§ Black women were 10 percent more likely than Black men to attend college; today, that figure is nearly 25 percent.

Black women now are earning college degrees at twice the rate of Black men.

§ The number of Black women earning bachelor's degrees has increased by 55 percent since the mid-1970s... compared with an increase of 20 percent among Black men.

The differences are even more profound in the areas of law or medicine:

§ Among Black women, the number of degree earners has soared 219 percent. But for Black men, it has increased only 5 percent.

§ The number of Black men earning master's degrees since the 1970s has actually dropped by 10 percent. It has risen 5 percent for Black women.

It is interesting that the researchers said that they are somewhat puzzled by those trends, especially since Black women overall tend to earn lower college admission test scores than Black men and take remedial college courses more often. Something is happening among Black males that cause them to not compete or sustain the challenges in the educational world or have the will to desire the profits of a secure education. Or, is it something that is “PREVENTING” them from this task?

As reported by Bill Maxwell that “ …Nationally, a mere quarter of the 1.9-million Black men between 18 and 24 attended college in 2000, the last year the American Council on Education reported such statistics. By contrast, 35 percent of Black women in the same age group and 36 percent of all 18- to 24-year-olds were attending college.

A grimmer statistic, according to the American Council on Education, is that the graduation rate of Black men is the lowest of any population. Only 35 percent of the Black men who enrolled in NC African American Division 1 schools in 1996 graduated within six years. White men, on the other hand, graduated at a rate of 59 percent; Hispanic men, 46 percent; American Indian men, 41 percent; and Black women, 45 percent.”

The report by the African American Men Project found that in 2000:
•28 percent finished high school in four years.
•About 44 percent of all Black men in Hennepin County between the ages of 18 and 30 were arrested and booked into jail during the year.

In most urban areas, 20 to 30% of Black males drop out of school before graduation (Taylor-Gibbs, 1988). Black males are four times more likely than white males to be suspended or expelled from school, and nine times more likely to be placed in special education classes (Meier, Stewart, and England, 1989). From 1973 to 1977, there was a steady increase in Black male enrollment in college, from 39 to 48% of all high school graduates (equaling the rate for whites). However, since 1977 there has been a sharp and continuous decline in Black male college enrollment (National Research Council, 1989). Moreover, at colleges and universities throughout the U.S., as mentioned previously, fewer than 40% of those admitted to college graduate within six years.

The whole process of African American males being separated from the educational process starts at an early age where there is an unfair playing field and the consequences are expected. According to a study by Reed (1988):

1. The overall mean achievement scores for Black male students are below those of other groups in the basic subject areas.
2. Black males are much more likely to be placed in classes for the educable mentally retarded and for students with learning disabilities than in gifted and talented classes.
3. Black males are far more likely to be placed in general education and vocational high school curricular tracks than in an academic track.
4. Black males are suspended from school more frequently and for longer periods of time than other student groups.

Such data are compounded by the fact that Black males are frequently the victims of negative attitudes and lowered expectations from teachers, counselors, and administrators. Low expectations breed low performance and eventual disinterest in the educational process.

Lee, Courtland C writes: ”Frustration, underachievement or ultimate failure, therefore, often comprises the contemporary educational reality for scores of Black male youth. It is evident that Black males from kindergarten through high school tend to experience significant alienation from America's schools. The consequences of this are major limitations on socioeconomic mobility, ultimately leading to high rates of unemployment, crime, and incarceration for massive numbers of young Black men.”

Nearly 100 years ago, educator and civil rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston noted: "Without education, there is no hope for our people and without hope, our future is lost." This is proving to be very accurate unless there is some drastic societal change made real soon.

We know by deductive reasoning these two correlations:
1. It is not possible to obtain high-paying employment without education beyond a high school diploma.
2. Employment in low-wage positions does not lead to a high-wage position without additional education.
By leaving the education track exposes African-American men and youth to a host of negative outcomes, including low-wage jobs, street life, involvement with the criminal justice system, and loss of family ties. Is this by “design” or a “consequence”?

Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY cites that “Young Black women are now spending years getting an education and building a career. When they turn to thoughts of settling down, they find a small pool of marriageable Black men... Because available women so far outnumber them, many Black men often say they see no reason to make long-term commitments. They feel it's safer to 'couple for the moment' and move on."

Drop outs… and the kicked outs

Two out of three African American male students who entered 9th grade in 1994 did not graduate from high school within five years.

About eight out of every 1,000 Black male high school students were expelled that year.

African American males historically have not participated fully in the economic prosperity of this country. On a national level, African American men have the highest unemployment rates, work primarily in low-skilled occupations, have less access to vocational and higher education, and are paid less than whites. And we must conclude that much of those reasons can be attributed to lack of education and certifications.

So what happens is that the Black man’s opportunities for survival and advancement are limited and little hope of rising above the status quo. There can be little doubt that depression, frustration, anger, and pessimism can result. Self-esteem and self-worth are violated, and feelings of powerlessness and helplessness to combat a society where one does not "fit in" can play havoc on thought processes and emotional states. The consequences of deleterious and demeaning experiences can create a climate for alienation, unrestrained rage, physical, assaults, homicides, and suicides. Lives that could have been productive are lost due to emotional reasons brought upon by the lack of education.

Unemployment and the lack of marketable skills and adequate incomes can lead to crime and imprisonment; alcohol and drugs are a means of escape from the awareness of "their superfluous existence in a country that devalues and fears them" (Staples, 1987, p. 10). Williams (1984) summed up the results most succinctly: "poverty, in addition to racial inequality, provides 'fertile soil' for criminal violence".

For growing numbers of Black males, prison rather than college is a more probable destination during adolescence and young adulthood. In 1995, one out of every three Black males (versus one out of 10 white males) between the ages of 18 and 30 were either incarcerated or in some way ensnared by the criminal justice system.

More Black Men Behind Bars In US Than In College

Since I have this unrelenting parental need to direct my daughters to where the eligible Black men are, and if Black males aren’t going to college, where are they? It would do Black women better if they went to the local penal institutions to look for a mate since there are 25 percent more Black men in prison in the United States than are enrolled in institutions of higher education. According to one research, that is old news that should have had the African American Community in a non-stop fervor, one in four young Black men are in jail or on parole.

Today, Black men make up 41 percent of the inmates in federal state, and local prison, but Black men are only 4 percent of all students in American institutions of higher education. There has been around a 40 per cent increase in the college population over a period when there has been a 500 per cent increase in the prison and jail population. Therefore, there were 25 percent more Black men in prison in the United States than were enrolled in institutions of higher education. It tells you that the life chance of a Black male going to prison is greater today than the chance of a Black male going to college. As a matter of fact, 1 out of every 10 Black males ages 16-24 is institutionalized (all forms of institutional care) which happens to be the age category that all youth are supposed to be involved in skill-education for future survival. Instead of Rights of Adult Passage for Black youth they are hauled away and contained until that growth period is over.

*Incidentally, as a footnote, the increase in the Black male prison population coincides with the prison construction boom that began 1980. At that time, three times more Black men were enrolled in institutions of higher learning than behind bars, one study said.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 15 to 24.

However, even for my daughters to seek the Black men from the institutionalized group there is a compounded problem since it’s reported that in 2000, HIV/AIDS was among the top three causes of death for African-American men ages 25-54. AIDS has had a disproportionate effect on the African-American community in the United States when compared to other ethnic groups. Making matters worse, the leading cause of HIV infection among African-American men is sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and heterosexual contact.

A phenomenon has been described that greatly contributes to this fact is in which heterosexual African-American men in jail or prison have unprotected sex with other men who are HIV positive, and African-American men are incarcerated disproportional to their numbers, potentially explaining the large representation of African-American men with AIDS. In addition, there is widespread injection drug use, needle sharing and tattooing in prisons, adding to the risk of HIV transmission.

Therefore, to select from that group of Black men would be definitely too risky because many Black men coming from incarceration don’t consider themselves homosexual or bi-sexual and continue to have sex with heterosexual Black women who don’t know about their partners sexual confusion.

One study's revelations indicated this: “Many young gay men practicing risky sex nevertheless believe they are unlikely to contract HIV. Among those with the virus, 90 percent of Black men, 70 percent of Latinos and 60 percent of whites did not know they were HIV-positive. So we have an abnormally amount of Black gays who don’t know they are passing the virus off and not doing anything to prevent it’s transmission!

Then there are those gay men who claim to be heterosexual (closet cases) but are secretly having sex with other men. Allegedly because of Black societal taboos on homosexuality, these “men look-alikes” perpetrate masculinity upon unsuspecting women while simultaneously having sexual relations with men. Meanwhile, they also marry or carry on long-term relationships with women, to whom they may transmit the virus. Of the AIDS victims who acquired the virus through heterosexual sex, Black women accounted for nearly half from 1994 to 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because of those kinds of dangers of being misled to a man’s sexuality I have to caution and counsel my daughters, and every young woman I know, to check and double check, the sexuality of ALL men they consider marrying because it can cost them their life if they don’t know.

What are left for my daughters to pick over are those who are out-carcerated in mainstream: the working world. The figures on Black men in the work force is also staggering. A new study examining trends in joblessness in the city since 2000 suggests that by 2003, nearly one of every two Black men between 16 and 64 was not working. The study, by the Community Service Society, a nonprofit group that serves the poor, is based on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and focuses on the so-called employment-population ratio - the fraction of the working-age population with a paid job - in addition to the more familiar unemployment rate, the percentage of the labor force actively looking for work. Mark Levitan, the report's author, found that just 51.8 percent of Black men ages 16 to 64 held jobs in New York City in 2003. The rate for white men was 75.7 percent; for Hispanic men, 65.7; and for Black women, 57.1. The employment-population ratio for Black men was the lowest for the period Mr. Levitan has studied, which goes back to 1979. This particular study doesn’t at all contradict the figures on Black employment nationally. Can this staggering statistic be explained by the high rates of imprisonment among Black males?

Aside from all of those types of avoidances a Black woman must be aware i.e. the unemployed, the incarcerated, closet homosexuals and the uneducated, she must also be concerned with the longevity of her marriage. No woman wants to marry and love a man and find out he won’t be around too long. Very few women would knowingly hook up with a mate who she knows has very little chances of enduring a lasting relationship because their life expectancy is known to be short.

The fact of the matter is Black men die sooner than Black women and all people in general. Each of the 15 leading causes of death is more likely to kill them. Men have growing rates of psychological problems. Men are more likely to die as crime victims. Men shun doctors when they are sick and avoid checkups when they are well. Not only do men have more dangerous jobs than women, but also African- American men have more dangerous jobs than white men.

Overall, African American males have their own health issues. Consider this:

About 36 in 100,000 Blacks were treated for kidney failure in 2001 -- more than three times the rate of whites.

The incidence rate for all cancers combined among African-American men remains 27% higher and the death rate remains 45% higher than among white men in 1997.

The prostate cancer incidence rate among African-American men is 60% higher than the rate in white men, and the prostate cancer death rate is more than twice as high among African Americans than any other racial/ethnic group.

Survival rates remain poorer for African Americans than for whites for each of the four most common cancers, breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate.

The prevalence of current smoking remains higher among adult African-American men than among adult white men. Smoking is a behavior risk that relates to high blood pressure, overweight and contributes to alcoholism. Alcohol consumption is associated with a number of disorders such as cirrhosis of the liver and some cancers.

More than a quarter of African-American men report no leisure time physical activity, which relates directly to weight problems and eventually heart disease. One-third of African-American males are considered overweight in the United States, and nearly half of all African American men have serum cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dl.

Hypertension is a serious problem in the African American community with rates twice as high when compared to Caucasian (Medicine, 1998).

African Americans males aged between 35-64 are 10 times more at risk of developing pancreatitis than any other group.

Keloid scars don't just affect African American men but they are more susceptible to getting them.

In 1993, Blacks were 3 to 4 times more likely than whites to be hospitalized for asthma possibly due to:
· High levels of indoor allergens, especially cockroach allergen
· High levels of tobacco smoking among family members and caretakers
· High indoor levels of nitrogen dioxide, a respiratory irritant produced by inadequately vented stoves and heating appliances

On average, African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes as white Americans of similar age.

With all of those health related issues that are snuffing the lives of African American men disproportionately in American society it would be enough to decimate African American males in a slow steady process, however there remains another factor that is killing off Black men in the most horrific way.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (1985), African American men have an unusually high likelihood of being murdered; African Americans are more than five times as likely to be the victims of homicide as white people (Hawkins, 1986).

Homicide is the leading cause of death of African American men between ages 15 and 34. In 1992, of the 23,760 homicide victims reported, 50 percent were African American and 48 percent were white, a disproportionate amount considering that African Americans are only 11 percent of the population.

Williams, in his classic Destruction of Black Civilization, writes:

They, the so-called criminals and their youthful followers, expect nothing beneficial from the white world, and they see no reason for hope in their own. Hence, like caged animals, they strike at what is nearest them—their own people. They are actually trying to kill a situation they hate, unaware that even in this, they are serving the white man well. For the whites need not go all out for "genocide" schemes, for which they are often charged, when Blacks are killing themselves off daily on such a large scale. (1987:325)

Since 1979, there has been an increase in gun-related suicides by young Black men, according to a study using information from Centers for Disease Control statistics. The increased rate slowed in the late 1990's. The suicide rate among African-American boys and young men increased 105% between 1980 and 1995 (CDC, 1998). The suicide rate for African American men between ages 15 and 24 has tripled (Gibbs, 1988).

Eighty-four percent of violent crimes perpetrated against African Americans were by African Americans (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1990). Ninety percent of those arrested for homicide were men; 55 percent (10,728) were African American, and 43 percent (8,466) were white (U.S. Department of Justice, 1993). In 1990, African Americans were 35.7 percent of the prison population, compared with 50 percent for white people (Criminal Justice Institute, 1991).

The research found that between 1993 and 1997, the rates for homicide with a firearm in the 15- to 24-year-old age range fell an average of 8 percent in large metropolitan areas and more than 15 percent in medium-size cities.

African American males also continue to die earlier, according to research.
* The death rate from cardiovascular disease is 83 percent higher for African-American males than that of white males.
* While 90 percent of white males survive at least five years with prostate cancer, the survival rate among Black males is only 75 percent.
* The five-year survival rate of African-American men with testicular cancer is nearly 10 percent lower than that of white men.
* African-American men suffer at least a 50 percent higher incidence of cancers of the larynx, prostate, stomach, liver, esophagus and pancreas than do white men.
* Overall, the death rates for Black men ages 35 to 49 are roughly 175 percent higher than those for white men in the same age group

If You Are A Married African American Male – Thank God, Because Your Life Depends On It!

Another factor affecting the health of African American males is that of failed marriages. Divorce rates among African Americans have reached an all time high. Divorce among African Americans has been consistently higher than that for other groups--their divorce rate is twice that for whites (Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1995). Census Bureau statistics show that in 1998, 11.7% of Blacks age 18 and over were divorced, compared with 9.8% for the general population.

Divorce takes a particularly heavy toll on Black men, resulting in mental health problems that commonly present as physiological symptoms. Divorce also has health related consequences. Increases in the use of alcohol, nicotine, and illicit drugs; hypertension; and even suicide can result following divorce. Compared with their married counterparts, divorced men are especially at risk. Divorced men have a lower life expectancy and experience a poorer prognosis following a medical diagnosis. To date, though, few studies have focused specifically on the health consequences of divorce among Black men.

The fate of the Black Community rests in the African American family and the survival of African American males. Elizabeth Wright states: “As historical fact and as common sense, it once was accepted wisdom that the major reason for the institution of marriage, which assures a man's union to a woman, was to help put brakes on men's aggressiveness—to turn their focus away from intemperate self-indulgence toward more responsible behavior. Gilder claims that when normal socializing restraints are no longer in place and the social institutions deny the basic terms of male nature, "Masculinity makes men enemies of family and society." And where a welfare bureaucracy has entirely replaced their economic function, men are even less likely to play positive roles in the ongoing sustenance of communities.” Inevitably, the crisis of the survival of the African American male shifts to the survival of the African American Community in general.

It’s one thing to DECIDE to not participate in the voting process, but for many African American males that decision is already made for them. On Election Day, nearly 1.4 million voting-age Black men -- more than one in eight -- will be ineligible to cast ballots because of state laws that strip felons of the right to vote.

Disenfranchised Black males account for 35 percent of all Americans now barred from voting because of felony convictions. Two percent of all Americans, or 3.9 million, have lost the right to vote, compared with 13 percent of adult Black men.

State laws governing voter eligibility vary. Nine states impose a lifetime voting ban on convicted felons. In 32 states, felons can vote after serving their sentence and completing parole. Three states -- Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont -- have no prohibition and allow prisoners to vote. Massachusetts’s voters will act on a ballot measure in November that would strip prisoners of voting rights. Utah voters approved a similar measure in 1998.

Based on current rates of incarceration, 28.5 percent of Black males will likely serve time in a state or federal prison for a felony conviction, a rate seven times that for white males.

In Florida and Alabama, for instance, the figure is 31 percent, while in Mississippi it is 29 percent. In Virginia, 25 percent of otherwise eligible Black men cannot vote.

Exactly how much of an impact not being able to practice basic constitutional guarantees has on African American male psychological health and well being has not yet been determined, nor has there been any proposed studies on the matter made public to date. However, it is my guess that the fact of such large numbers of the voting population who are ineligible to vote benefits the Republican Party, in particular, and profoundly adversely affects the attitudes and social adaptations of African American males toward society in general. All of this contributes in some way to the deteriorating mental health, and consequently the life spans of African American males.

Since African American women nowadays find it difficult to secure an eligible, decent and competent African American male we are seeing a shift of family in the African American Community. It appears that more and more African American women are not committing to relationships while still procreating thus creating a matrilineal Community. Sixty percent of all children in the Black community are fatherless and without a Black male role model in the home. Studies show that 82 percent of all Black children born in the ghetto are born out of wedlock. Ninety percent of children in ghetto schools come from broken homes, and their mothers, grandmothers, or themselves rear them.

Female-headed families on public welfare live at bare subsistence levels, and children are being victimized as the poorest of the poor, with little hope of surmounting their essentially predetermined destinies. Even the working single mothers are having difficulty raising African American boys but less severe than those single parents with no money. The absence of fathers in the home, or at best visiting their children, has created a condition where African American youth are prone to lessons of the street, which inevitably will end up with negative consequences for all.

These conditions and cycles are arising from years of deprivation, oppression, and bias, exacerbated by institutional racism that goes unrecognized by the dominant forces at large; contemporary racism is much more subtle than the blatant exclusionary practices of the past.

The ultimate tragedy is that African Americans who experience these conditions feel trapped in an unalterable life situation (Hendin, 1978). As Harvey (1986) expressed, "There is a definite relationship between the inability of young Black men to find employment; the increasing number of female-headed households in the Black community; the economic and psychological trauma endured by the Black poor; and the high rates of homicidal activity among young, impoverished Black males" (p. 164).

For African American males, especially those in low-income Communities, their situation is increasingly not workable for them. Starting with broken homes, not obtaining proper education, the lack of marketable skills and adequate incomes can lead to crime and imprisonment; alcohol and drugs are a means of escape from the awareness of "their superfluous existence in a country that devalues and fears them". "We have people who are dying physically, emotionally and spiritually," poignantly said by then-state Del. (now-Rep.) Elijah E. Cummings, who was remarking on just how severe the situation is for African American males. Youth violence is out of control along with unemployment and the lack of respect for life. "A lot of these kids that you run into, they don't have a fear of dying. They will kill you as well as look you...The American dream is dead for them”, said one commentator. Because these kids are perceived as "hardcore" by society, it is hard for them to find employment. It becomes a cycle.

So, instead of finding meaningful employment (a job that pays more than $5 an hour) they're selling drugs and committing armed robberies. They are futilely chasing the American dream that is shown to them daily throughout the media that results in many of our youth turning on one another and the Community in an expression of their frustration and resentment.
- The number of violent incidents resulting in injury and death for Black males is seven times that of white males.

The results are the endangerment of a people, a culture, and the constructive search for a better quality of life. Actions that convey racism and discrimination create apprehensions in the African American community. Their children often fail in schools and drop out, reacting to a sense of failure with disruptive, violent, and self-destructive behaviors (Allen-Meares, 1990; Comer, 1985). These stark realities sow the seeds of disillusionment and projections of hostility and animosity toward an unrelenting society that restricts upward mobility and success. Certainly, the availability of guns and other lethal weapons and media coverage of violence in various forms can cause emulation of aggressive behaviors that counteract frustration and anger.

Despair, low self-esteem, and rage become forces of destruction, homicide, and suicide. An adolescent who lives in poverty and sees his father unemployed and the family suffers, and who is surrounded by destitution, disparagement, murder, and crime, is vulnerable to striking out against others and himself. Survival and optimistic life chances are not part of his destiny without major endemic and societal changes. And these are not in his foreseeable future.

Who should do something about this situation, whites or us? I say it is the African American Community that must take up the banner and make this a PRIORITY as critical as it is.

At the core of the Black male crisis is our failure to assume total responsibility for the destiny of our children -- our future.

By any means necessary, Black adults must teach Black children to take hold of their lives. While we should continue to acknowledge the debilitating effects of racism, we cannot afford to live as victims. We must forge a world of self-determination parallel to that of society's racism, an evil that is not disappearing any time soon.

Until we look inside ourselves and change our perspective on education, the grim statistics will continue to pile up, and our men will fall further behind and the dreaded cliche -- Black males are "an endangered species" -- will become a reality.

Yes, we can blame it on Institutional Racism due to the Unemployment in the African American Communities that continues to rise, female-headed families on public welfare live at bare subsistence levels, Public schools that fail to provide them with satisfactory educations and marketable skills, the discrimination that exists in housing, and the unavailability of health and social services that promote well-being undermines our ability to gain control of self and community.

We could blame the powers that be, but that has shown that won’t solve the problem for we’ve heard promises, but seldom do they deliver. The African American Community must be the ones to become OUTRAGED in order to make something happen that will move toward solving this social travesty and injustice.

What should be the number one priority for preachers, teachers and politicians? It should be this issue. The African American Community should make it the number one criteria for even listening to an African American leader, preacher or teacher. If they are not addressing this matter, they should be shut down. That is being outraged.

We must admit that many of the problems in the Black community are related to institutional racism however, there are answers to many of our issues that are solvable without going to beg those who make the situation to solve it.

African American male = Drop out of school… can’t find jobs…Life Cut Short … die younger… murdered by other Black men…Arrested more often…Jailed longer times …incarcerated at younger ages … Dying earlier … more Health problems (cancers, diabetes, pancreaitis, kidney failures, … Suicides greater … broken families … despair

Understanding statistics

“Being Black is a predictor of increased health risks, but so is being poor, no matter what one's skin color may be.”

“How, then, should we interpret such statistics as that "Black men under age 45 are ten times more likely to die from the effects of high blood pressure than white men," that "Black women suffer twice as many heart attacks as white women," and that "a variety of common cancers are more frequent among Blacks...than whites,”

It is unfortunate and misleading that US health statistics usually are presented in terms of the quasi-biological triad of age, race, and sex, without providing data about employment, income, housing, and the other prerequisites for healthful living. Even though there are genetic components to skin color, as there are to eye or hair color, there is no biological reason to assume that any one of these is more closely related to health status than any other. Skin color ("race") is no more likely to be biologically related to the tendency to develop high blood pressure than eye color is.

To come up with rational explanations, we need to take account of the fact that the median income of African Americans since 1940 has been less than two-thirds that of Americans of European descent. Disproportionate numbers of African Americans live in more polluted and run-down neighborhoods, work in more polluted and stressful work places, and have fewer escape routes out of these living and work situations than Euro-Americans have. Furthermore, African Americans at all levels of society experience stress arising from their history and day-to-day experience of discrimination. It is not surprising to find consistent discrepancies in health outcomes between "Blacks" and "whites."

Because of racial oppression, being Black is a predictor of increased health risks, but so is being poor, no matter what one's skin color may be. The fact that even at comparable education and class standing, some health risks appear to be greater for Africans than for European Americans, needs to be analyzed by taking the range of factors into account that constitute the panorama of American racism.” [Ruth Hubbard is co-founder of the Council for Responsible Genetics and Professor Emeritus of biology at Harvard University.]

The Solution Is To Put Working-age People To Work

Endangered species, genocide, African American male crisis, selective racial social redirecting or historical victimization, no matter how it is named, it all amounts to the same, African American males will soon become a rarity unless immediate actions are taken.

For males of African descent in the U.S., there is no evidence to indicate that present conditions are temporary, or that by some means presently unknown, they will eventually improve.

In recent times there have been groups of African American men who have participated in a series of summit meetings with members of street gangs. The gang leaders were encouraged to declare "truces" to limit their "war" on the community. They signed, along with neighborhood dignitaries, documents called "peace treaties." All of this formal ceremony took place, as the youth were treated as diplomats or heads of state. Meanwhile, in another city, a group of Black men, aiming to stem local violence, formed a "rap" group, appropriating the children's own symbols of rebellion. This was done, they explained, so they might better "relate" to the youth. These and similar antics are being duplicated in cities around the country.

None of the organizers are in a position to offer any economic alternatives to these youth, because they have created nothing of economic value. Most who participated in the "treaty" signings were church pastors; others described themselves as "community activists." Not one man, or organization, in the bunch was in a position to take a youth under his wing and offer him a job, except for the Nation of Islam who would give the brothers some newspapers and bean pies and send them off to do for self, and at least that contribution has dignity and solves the problem.

The time has come when the African American Community takes responsibility for it’s own. We must be the ones to solve this “crisis. African Americans must create the jobs. African Americans must be the ones to make it a public outcry and OUTRAGE in their own Communities. Resources must be pooled together, networking must be done and in the final analysis we must do for self.

Had the youth leaders in the 1960s, Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale Huey Newton and others, been inclined to make manifest the economic strategies of Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad there is a good chance the situation would be different now. Leaders like Washington, Garvey and Muhammad were advocating economic development to combat the racism that was holding and stagnating the Black Community. It was then, and it is now the issues of economics that causes much of the problems with African American males and IF those African Americans, who make it, would feel more responsible to those who didn’t, much of the problem would be solved. African American males need jobs that are created and provided by the African American Community instead of looking to others who would care less to solve our issues.

It’s as simple as African American people coming together and establishing a National Chamber of African American Commerce! Forget the bourgeois, egotistical leagues of the so-called “100 Black Men”. They appear to do nothing but flaunt their individual materialistic successes gained from the results from the “civil rights era. They should be devising systemic infrastructures to accommodate by and large Black employment. African Americans rather need Congresses of professionals dedicated to the eradication of European American economical dependency instead of ego trippers. African American solvency is the answer for the condition of the Black man based solely upon the neglect of any sincere response by White America to our problems and because it is our responsibility by God to “do for self”. It is the ‘natural order of things’.

A National Chamber of African American Commerce would take upon the duty to create and direct monies, services and assistance to African American businesses so that masses of jobs are created across the country. I’m talking about real jobs in manufacturing, distribution and production. For every African American business to succeed produces more and more Community jobs. The more the successful the Black-owned and operated business, the more employment would happen in the Community. With an oversight body such as recommended, assurances would be in place to guarantee the results being what was planned. Big props to Ervin (Magic) Johnson.

I close this essay with commenting on how some refer the African American male crisis as one of “genocide”.

Genocide is the systematic degradation of a group, with resulting psychological and material impoverishment, is an instance of genocide when it results in the widespread destruction of human lives. Thus, creating conditions in which a group will be destroyed, and not only direct violence against such a group is a form of genocide.

I differ with the charge of ‘genocide’ against African Americans, and men in particular, inasmuch as the situation of African Americans is about NEGLECT and APATHY from those who are in power (Whites). When another people, White Americans, PREFER to be concerned about themselves, as opposed to others (colored peoples), is not to me a ‘genocidal’ act. Incidents like that are just selfish and self-centered and not a crime of humanity.

I would consider it ‘genocidal’ IF there were evident methods in place by one group who had the power to DELIBERATELY cause short and long term harm upon another people for the gain of economic power, as a act of genocide.

Robert Johnson and Paul Leighton write “genocide, then, can be expressed in part in the self-destructive adaptations of victim groups to the deprivations of life inflicted upon them by the larger society. In these situations, the victim group APPEARS to be the cause of its own problems and the role of larger social conditions is discounted or ignored entirely. It is commonly said, for example, that poor Black men are killing themselves with guns and drugs.” That is absurd, to say the least, however strategically it works by smoke-screening a real solution.

In this case of the African American male’s “social conditions” that are killing him, this situation absolutely cannot be discounted or “ignored” by the African American Community, if the Community is to survive. There can be no more blaming the victim as many stand by watching the extinction of an entire Community via benign neglect. Even if others don’t see the depth and travesty of the issue, Americans of African decent MUST take the lead in the solution.

For African Americans to take the lead, the Black leadership must be held accountable with their priorities. This HAS to be every leaders agenda. There is no more need of the empty leadership cries of this circumstance being an OUTRAGE because TALK is not outrage! To cry “outrage,” indicates that listening and critical thinking are finished and a person, or Community has grown to the point of ACTION. The Community has yet to be outraged even though the situation is outrageous because no significant direct action has been made.

To solve my quest for my daughters getting married to a good healthy Black man that has chances for survival, at the same rate as everyone else in this country, is a matter of JOBS being opened up and obstacles removed, for African American men to become all that God had intended for them to be, and just maybe, we can then be optimistic on the future of our entire Nation of African peoples in America.

Recommended Readings - African American Health


Cultural Factors in Preventive Care: African- Americans Witt, D. Brawer, R. Plumb, J. Prim Care Clin Office Pract, 29, 487-493 African American 2002

Social Support among African-American Adults with Diabetes, Part 2: A review Ford, M. E. Tilley, B. C. McDonald, P. E. J Natl Med Assoc. 90(7), 425-32. African American 1998 July

Health Status of African Americans. Dreeben, O. J Health Soc Policy. 14(1), 1-17. African Americans 2001

African American Health - Medline
African American Cultural Program at the University of Illinois
African American Family Services Resource Center
American Sickle Cell Anemia Association
Cancer Research Foundation of America
The Health of Minority Women - African American
U.S. Department of Health - African American Men

http://photo2.si.edu//mmm/mmm.html Photographic documentary by the Smithsonian Institution photographers.

http://www.igc.apc.org/africanam/hot/pledge.html Million Man March Pledge

"Quiet Giants: Black Male Role Models and Mentor Who Are Making a Difference in the Lives of Young People." Ebony Man (Sept. 1991): 48+
Strickland, William. "Taking Our Souls? The War against Black Men." Essence (November 1991): 48-50.

Wiley, Ed. "What's in a Label? Scholars Debate Use of "Endangered" Tag to Describe Black Male Condition." Black Issues in Higher Education (January 1992): 12-14.

Barrow, Lionel. "The Black Male Teacher--A Vanishing Breed?" Crisis (October 1991): 20-22.

Childs, Ronald E. "How Black Men Are Responding to the Black Male Crisis: They're Solving the Problem by Becoming the Solution." Ebony Man 6, no. 11 (September 1991): 34.

Dawsey, Darrell. Living to Tell about it: Young Black Men in America Speak Their Piece. New York: Anchor Books, 1996. 305.38896073 D322L 1996 (Black Cultural Center; Undergraduate Library)

LI>Evans, Brenda J and James Whitfield. Black Males in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography from 1967 to 1987. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1988.

Garibaldi, Antoine M. "Educating and Motivating African American Males to Succeed." The Journal of Negro Education 61 no. 1 (Winter 1992): 4-11.

Harris, Whitney G. "Reframing the Issue: African-American Males in Higher Education." Black Issues in Higher Education (October 3, 1996): 92.

Jennings, Robert, Robert Alford, and Michael Boatwright. "Why African American Males Are Vanishing on College Campuses." Black Issues in Higher Education (November 1991): 24-25.

top